Outside Toronto, court-con-nected mediation programs
have been available in family
court jurisdictions across
Ontario for years, and now it is
finally Toronto’s turn. Anyone
on the court docket at the
Superior Court of Justice in
Toronto is now eligible for on-site, no-cost mediation for matters that can be addressed in
two hours or less.

Hilary Linton, accredited
family mediator with the
Ontario Association of Family
Mediation, who has been providing private mediation
through Riverdale Mediation
for years, was awarded the Ministry of the Attorney General
contract to provide no-cost on-site family mediation for cases
in court at 393 University
Avenue, subsidized off-site
family mediation for anyone in
Toronto, operate the mandatory
information sessions and manage the expanded information
services at the court. The program is known as “mediate393.”
Linton not only has extensive
experience as a family mediator
and arbitrator but is also an
educator. She has been teaching
family law, mediation and negotiation for several years, for the
University of Western Ontario
(UWO) Faculty of Law, Osgoode
Hall Law School, the Toronto
Advanced Professional Education (TAPE), Humber College
and Riverdale Mediation.

LORNAYATES

“Anyone on the court
docket at the Superior
Court of Justice in
Toronto is now eligible
for on-site, no-cost
mediation for matters
that can be addressed
in two hours or less.

Mediate393 is part of an
initiative that the McGuinty
government has been taking
since 2008 to increase access to
justice for Ontario families by
making the family justice system more efficient, more affordable and less confrontational.
The initiative is aimed at implementing the so-called “four pillars of justice to resurrect a
broken system”: information
programs and services, triage,
alternatives to court and
streamlined court process.

The mediate393 program is
comprised of four components.

The first component is the
Family Law Information Centre
(FLIC), a resource centre for
individuals going through a
separation or divorce. The FLIC
office is run by court staff and a
full-time Information and
Referral Co-ordinator (IRC).
The IRC is a social worker who
is familiar with all the resources
available in the community and
can help clients identify process
choices.

The second component is the
Mandatory Information Program (MIP), which is a two-hour session aimed at helping
parties who are just beginning a
family law case at the Toronto
Superior Court of Justice in
Toronto. The session is presented by a lawyer and a mental
health professional whenever
possible, and provides an overview of the process of separation and divorce, including: the
effects of a relationship breakdown on adults and children,
legal issues, options for dispute
resolution and the court process. The MIP is mandatory for
anyone who is subject to a
family law court proceeding and
is available free of charge.
Toronto has had the MIP program for years and in fact it is
this program that the McGuinty
government has recently
expanded to other jurisdictions
in the province.

The third component is two

See Mediate Page 12

An oddity in Family Law

An unusual ruling took place in France recently when a 51-year-old
man was ordered to pay his wife $14,000 for lack of sex over 21 years
of marriage.

Jean Louis B. was fined under Article 215 of France’s Civil Code,
which states that married couples must agree to a “shared communal
life.” According to the judge this law implies that sexual relations
between a husband and wife must form part of a marriage.

The case was brought to the courts after the wife filed for divorce
two years ago, blaming her husband’s lack of interest in her. Although
the divorce was granted, she took him back to court demanding compensation for her suffering over the years, according to Telegraph.co.uk.

The now ex-husband claimed “tiredness and health problems” to
be the cause of his lack of attentiveness, but clearly the judge was
unconvinced. Of all the reasons to need a doctor’s note, getting permission to abstain from sex (to avoid having to pay the disappointed
spouse) has got to be a new one. —Anum Lateef

Revisions have been made to existing clauses and commentary, plus
we’ve added new clauses and schedules (including a streamlined
“Statement of Income, Assets and Debts/Liabilities”), based on
current case law and legislation including: